MasterCard Makes it Easier to Open, Close a Bar Tab

By
Rob Marvin27 Feb 2017, 6 p.m.

MasterCard adds a new 'Open a Tab' feature to its payments app and tips an Oracle partnership.

BARCELONA—MasterCard continues to move further and further away from plastic. At Mobile World Congress here, the credit card and payments provider announced an expanded rollout of Qkr! with Masterpass, its mobile order-ahead and payment platform, along with a new "Open a Tab" feature letting consumers virtually open and close a bar tab without handing a credit card or driver's license over to the bartender.

As part of the Masterpass news, the company also announced a new partnership with Oracle to integrate the Qkr! app with Oracle retail, hospitality management, and point-of-sale (POS) systems in stores, restaurants, and hotels. The Qkr! platform is expanding into the US, Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Singapore, and South Africa. The Oracle integration will give consumers with the Qkr! app the ability to order ahead, split bills, and pay their check via app at restaurants, and enable e-commerce payments in places like gas stations, parking lots, arenas, and even connected vending machines.

James Anderson, Executive Vice President of Digital Payment Products at MasterCard, said the announcements feed into MasterCard's "digital by default" strategy with Masterpass. He explained how the "Open a Tab" functionality works as an extension of the Qkr! experience, which embeds within an establishment's existing app or website to add features like ordering ahead, paying at the table, and now opening and closing a tab.

"There's a traditional user experience here. The consumer walks into a bar, goes up to the counter and gives the bartender their card to open a tab," explained Anderson. "With Qkr!, you go into the app and it generates a four-digit number that they will then tell the wait staff. The bartender enters it into their system and authorizes the tab, and then they can pour drinks. When you leave, you close the tab out right from your phone, and you're done."

"Open a Tab" is the flashiest new Qkr! app feature, but MasterCard's global partnership with Oracle has deeper implications. MasterCard and Oracle are already working with UK-based partner chains including Wagamama, Carluccio's, and Geronimo Pubs to let customers order additional items during meals, split the bill, and pay at the table using the app. The partnership also extends to integrated digital payments, retail check-out, and fraud prevention through MasterCard Payment Gateway Services.

On the establishment side, MasterCard is integrating its software development kit (SDK) into Oracle's MICROS Systems restaurant and retail POS to minimize IT strain and give managers in an establishment the ability to turn features on and off. Anderson said the biggest change will be training managers and staff on this "new normal" of payments, where consumers are doing it all from an app.

"We know that consumers in the right context gravitate toward new ways of interacting and purchasing, in this case embedded within the Oracle software stack so restaurants can implement features without having to do a complicated IT integration," said Anderson. "What's fascinating when you enable new capabilities like this is understanding the operational implications. In the UK with Wagamama, we found some awkwardness between the consumer and staff as to whether they had actually paid."

MasterCard announced the Masterpass digital payments service at MWC 2014 with the selling point of offering digital payments through the user's bank. Over the past few years, MasterCard has integrated Masterpass with new payment methods including Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, as well as all manner of wearables and connected devices in the growing Internet of Payments. Anderson said the key with Masterpass is that you don't have to register; it doesn't add any more friction to the payments process.

"One lightbulb in our thinking is that if we embed a payment experience like Masterpass into a great shopping or dining experience, the consumer might be attracted initially to order ahead because they hate waiting in line," said Anderson. "If we're going to get adoption, our common metric is: will this save the consumer time? That's our test."

Rob was previously an editor at SD Times covering software, managing social media, and writing narrative-driven features on any offbeat story or trend he could find. He graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications ... See Full Bio